conworldfandomcom-20200222-history
Scourge of Detariya (Lorica)
Detariya's Guilded Era Prior to the arrival of the manasappers, the states of Detariya had mostly been minor kingdoms - guilded states - dominated by the influence of the guilds, with a few unguilded. As such they were part of the guilds' Alliance. Introduction of the Manasappers The manasappers used to only inhabit a minor, remote island off the coast of Detariya; this homeland of the faera is also home to its natural predators, thereby keeping the manasapper population in check. Settlers to the island unintentionally brought the species back to the mainland in 414 BEA, and as would be expected of a territory being located so close to the manasappers’ homeland, the rest of Detariya was highly suitable to the faera species. For the first few years the newly arrived species was barely noticed. Gradual Spread Eventually the manasappers began to destroy the guilds' ley stores by significant amounts, forcing the guilds to undertake efforts to eradicate them by 396 BEA. Thus began a long and costly and continuously losing war between the guild mages of Detariya and this invasive species of faera. The tiny, versatile, and extremely numerous (readily in the billions) faera proved impossible to eliminate and very adaptive, quickly evolving to become resistant to (and even subverting) the mages’ offensive spells and defensive wards. Over the course of the next 75 years, the manasappers gradually spread throughout the continent. On many occasions the guilds managed to cast far-reaching spells over large sections of the continent that managed to wipe out most of the manasappers, but the manasappers would always grow resistant to the spells and resurge in later years, and the story of the guild’s struggle in Detariya is a dismal struggle of great victories being swiftly rendered meaningless and fewer and fewer victories against increasingly desperate odds. For much of the latter half of their struggle, the guild mages were outnumbered by these faera millions-to-one. Despite the attempts by the mages to exterminate them, massive swarms of them smothered the leys and drained them of all mana, and attacking mana supplies shipped in from Ethaya, leaving the guilds without any resources with which to fight back. First Detariyan War ''See article: First Detariyan War Detariyan Guild Decline Though the guilds won the war, they did not find the means to overcome the underlying problem of the manasappers, which only spread further into all the places in Detariya that were habitable for manasappers. The kingdoms of Detariya, having seen the magical powers of the guild thwarted by these swarms of faera, became emboldened with each passing year, and all the kingdoms had less and less loyalty to the guilds as the guilds could no longer be relied upon for much anything. Guild membership in Detariya declined severely starting in 356 BEA, never to pick back up. Many guild members, increasingly frustrated by spells failing on them all the time, transferred over to Ethayan guild halls, leaving behind only guild spellcasters (to maintain military presence) and several diehard cadres of spellshapers trying to come up with a way to defeat the manasappers. Second Detariyan War ''See article: Second Detariyan War Further consequences Gradually technological inventions arose in the Detariyan kingdoms, making their technologies superior to that of the south. With the rise of new military technologies the kingdoms set about fighting with one another, until what had been dozens of smaller states before the Detariyan wars became just a handful of states two centuries later. Protected by the manasappers, the kingdoms of Detariya were immune to the magic of the guilds, and after their terrible defeat, and knowing that situations had not improved since then, the guilds kept away from Detariya. The kingdoms could not take any territories from the guilds in Ethaya, as they had nothing with which to oppose the guilds' magical might in Ethaya. The guilds' failure to eliminate the manasappers is their greatest defeat. The guilds tend to keep silent about this part of their history, however, and this kind of defeat does not particularly present a weakness of the guilds that can be readily exploited. Shortly after the defeat of the guilds from Detariya, the kingdoms tried to smuggle manasappers into Ethaya, but the manasappers were unable to thrive as Ethaya, being much warmer than Detariya, was not a suitable habitat for the species.